On This Day: The Rolling Stones Film ‘Rock and Roll Circus’ With John Lennon, The Who, and More Then Shelve It for Nearly 30 Years

In 1968, the Rolling Stones wanted to promote their seventh album Beggar’s Banquet when director Michael Lindsay-Hogg suggested the idea of a circus variety show of clowns, fire eaters, and rock and roll. The idea for a traveling circus of rock came along earlier that year when Mick Jagger was in the studio with The Who‘s Pete Townshend, and Small Faces‘ Ronnie Lane.

Townshend previously came up with the idea of a filmed rock and roll circus with Woodstock 1969 lighting engineer Edward “Chip” Monck. Lane also had the idea of a theatrical traveling caravan-like musical tour inside circus tents with all the trimmings, which he later turned into his misfired The Passing Show in 1974.

“Chip Monck and I came up with the ‘Rock and Roll Circus’ idea,” said Townshend in 2023. “It was going to be The Who, the Faces and the Stones. Mick Jagger and I met with Chip Monck, and he decided that what we needed was the old Barnum and Bailey circus-style railway trains.”

Townshend added, “We were talking about this and all getting very excited—this was in LA a year or two before they [The Rolling Stones] actually filmed the show with Michael Lindsay Hogg. The idea was that we were going to do this rock and roll circus, and it was going to be three big bands, and this was to really show The Beatles how to do it.”

On December 11, 1968, the Rolling Stones and their special guest set up at InterTel Studios at Stonebridge House in Wembley, London for what turned into a two-day shoot.

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The Who, Jethro Tull—and The Dirty Mac

Along with members of Sir Robert Fossett’s Circus and fire eater Danny Kamara with his assistant actress and model Donyale Luna—the first black model on the cover of British Vogue—the Rolling Stones served as ringleader hosts of the musical cavalcade introducing other acts and adding in small skits along the way.

Preceding the Stones’ performance was a string of acts, including Taj Mahal with “Ain’t That a Lot of Love” with Stax Records producer and songwriter Homer Banks, and The Who ripping through “A Quick One (While He’s Away).” Jethro Tull went into “A Song for Jeffrey,” while Marianne Faithfull, sat in the middle of the “tent” and dressed in a purple gown, sang the Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann-penned, Jagger-produced “Something Better.”

The Circus also featured The Dirty Mac, the one-time supergroup featuring John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton, with drummer Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Experience), and violinist Ivry Gitlis. Lennon had supposedly come up with the name Dirty Mac as a play on Fleetwood Mac. who performed the Lennon-penned Beatles‘ song “Yer Blues” from their White Album, which came out three weeks earlier.

Backed by the Dirty Mac and violinist Ivry Gitlis, Ono came on next for her improvisational set, “Whole Lotta Yoko,” which included her wailing.

The Stones Perform at 2 A.M.

Filming for the special went on longer than expected, and 15 hours later, the Stones didn’t perform their segment at 2 a.m. on the morning of December 12.

“And now…” said Lennon, introducing the Stones, who broke into “Jumping Jack Flash.” Tired and exhausted, the band barreled through their set including the live premieres of “Parachute Woman,” “No Expectations,” “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and “Sympathy for the Devil,” along with percussionist Kwasi “Rocky” Dzidzornu.

Toward the end of “Sympathy for the Devil,” Jagger pulled off his crimson shirt revealing several temporary tattoos—which may have been drawn by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s wife Lucy—including one of Lucifer across his chest.

The show ended with a Stones in ponchos and hats sitting in the audience for a singalong version of “Salt Of The Earth” with Nicky Hopkins on piano, before breaking out into a dance party.

The ‘Circus’ Never Airs … Until 1996

Originally set to air on BBC, the Rock and Roll Circus was never seen. Jagger and the band were reportedly disappointed with the production and shelved it indefinitely.

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was eventually shown a the New York Film Festival on October 12, 1996, and later released on video.

“When you see the film, you see that Mick [Jagger] engages the camera and stays on it with absolute concentration,” said Townshend in the 2004 DVD remaster of Rock and Roll Circus. “It was about two solid hours of shooting, and he never let up. So there was this strange element from him that he’d been empowered in some way. He was always a very charismatic performer but had been given some new gift from outside. It’s almost like he was a different guy.”

Townshend added, “When you watch it now, it’s a documentary. It’s a comment on the time.”

Photo: The Rolling Stones ‘Rock and Roll Circus’ TV special, Intertel Studios, Stonebridge Park, 11 December 1968. L-R: John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones & Bill Wyman (Peter Stone/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)